5 Things We Learned From Brothers Osborne’s First No. 1 Party

Brothers Osborne had a huge day in Nashville on Tuesday (March 1) when they celebrated their very first No. 1 hit. The sibling duo and co-writer Shane McAnally came together near Nashville's Music Row to remember all the hard work that went into "Stay a Little Longer."

TJ and John (who are actually Thomas John and John Thomas) had plenty to say about the single, working with McAnally and their journey to music all while cracking a few jokes. Even though the men of honor were busy, they were hugging everyone in the room, making sure no one needed a drink (or several) before accepting their plaques. Brothers Osborne's now-No. 1 hit was a long time coming, but one that was worth the wait.

Here are five things that Brothers Osborne and McAnally shared about finally getting a No. 1 song, going to the Grammys and more. The duo will hit the road with Miranda Lambert this year on her Keeper of the Flame Tour.

They heard 'no' a lot, but in the end, it was worth it.

John Osborne is a firm believer that hard work pays off, and it's done just that for the bros. John's been in Nashville for roughly 15 years, while TJ has been in town about 12 or 13. They worked for many, many years and ran into a lot of closed doors before finally hearing a "yes." That yes eventually turned into a No. 1.

“It’s crazy to finally have a No. 1 after being in town for so long," TJ explained proudly. "We’ve driven down music row countless times and seen countless banners out there … It seems narcissistic, but to see a banner out there with the song you wrote and it’s at No. 1 is crazy. A lot of time and effort went into making that happen. It definitely is one of those moments that all the hard work and sacrifice that we’ve been through to this point, it’s all been worth it.”

The road to a No. 1 hit is long.

Brothers Osborne admit they've had "a long string of celebrations" surrounding this career milestone, but the week they heard the news wasn't easy. It's a lot of waiting and speculating until you get the word that it's at the top of the charts.

“By the time the song actually goes No. 1, by midnight, by that time there’s so much talk about maneuvering and when it’s going to happen and if it’s going to happen and I don’t know if there’s really like a single moment where it’s official," McAnally (who is no stranger to a No. 1) explains. "I think it’s probably hard when they hear it for so long as it's building. You’re also celebrating every milestone because when a song goes Top 10 and it’s the first time you’ve been there, you are celebrating ... and then Top 5 ... and by then you’re probably scared to think it’s going all the way.”

Seeing Ashley Monroe at the Grammys was like seeing an angel.

“We show up at the Grammys and it’s like, ‘Wow, we don’t know anyone here.’ It’s quite intimidating," the Bros admitted. "The first person we see is Ashley Monroe and immediately we’re like ‘Thank God.’ She was like an angel that appeared out of a cloud. We were like, ‘Oh someone we know. A friend of ours. Nashville is here. After that, nothing could have possibly gone wrong. Of course losing the Grammy went wrong, but we lost to Little Big Town," John said with a smile. "Who wouldn’t want to lose a Grammy to Little Big Town? It’s amazing.”

"21 Summer" is one of their older songs.

"21 Summer" is the Bros' second single from Pawn Shop, but it's actually one of their older songs. After circling back to the song time and time again, when they collaborated with Jay Joyce, they knew it was the one.

“Out of all the songs on the record it’s one of the oldest we’ve written. It was probably a month, a month and a half in to us deciding to be Brothers Osborne when we came together and joined forces and wrote that one. That’s one that never kind of went away ... We recorded it several times until the final version of it with Jay Joyce … We can’t really explain why that song was great but we just kept coming back to it.”

Saying "yes" to Miranda was a no-brainer.

“We played a show with Miranda, a festival, a couple months ago … We watched her and thought, ‘Man she is so bada--. We would love to play with her.’ Only a few months later she asked us to be a part of her tour and we jumped on it," TJ gushed. "That’s an artist that we love and respect and puts out great music and I think we work well with musically. We’re definitely super stoked.”